Impressions III: Participating Artists and Their Works

Conversation, 2001, Sculpture Installation, Made of radiator and steel pipe

Courtesy: Yan Jun

Yan Jun is an emerging designer who often looks back on tradition for inspiration. His contribution to the exhibition, Dialogue, is a set of classical Chinese furniture made of disposed pipes once used in the heating system. According to the artist, the marriage of the classical furniture and the pipes creates a wide range of contradictions, tensions, and narratives: the past vs. the present, wood vs. iron, soft vs. hard, high vs. low, natural vs. industrial, rectangular vs. cylindrical, warm and cold, the mortise and tenor joining method vs. welding method. It is noteworthy that the pipe structure in the form of the classical Chinese hardwood furniture conveys the Taoist and Chan Buddhist concepts of naturalness and harmony. The artist transforms the perfunctorily produced pipes into something exquisite and meditative. His approach suggests new ways to revitalize contemporary society with spirituality in tradition.